Blame it on Cain, and Bobby, and Mike, and Cory, and Pat and Flozell…
August 17, 2009
by Eric Gay - AP
All right or all wet? Tony Romo always straddles the goat fence. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
“Blame it on Cain,
Don’t blame it on me,
oh, oh, it’s nobody’s fault,
but we need somebody to burn.”– Elvis Costello, Blame it on Cain
Every July 7th, the residents of Pamplona, Spain hold the Running of the Bulls, where brave — and crazy? — residents and tourists don red bandannas and march the animals through the city streets to the bull ring, where the bulls are later killed.
Every year, roughly one month later, the Cowboys Nation engages in its annual “Running of the Goats,” where the old, the infirm, and the disappointing on the roster are rounded up and run down the streets of the blogs, forums and call-in shows. Take a quick look at the right hand column of this site, or in the game-day threads, and you’ll see what I mean.
There are always a group of Cowboys the fans love to hate. Think of the doomed players from just the last five years, guys who couldn’t take a proper step: Jacob Rogers, Drew Bledsoe, Julius Jones, Akin Ayodele.
Last year, I handicapped the field, which had several perennials, led by the safety Roy Williams.
The Cowboys figuratively took the sword to several of last year’s goats. Adam Jones, Tank Johnson, Keith Davis, Greg Ellis, Roy Willie? All reduced to cabrito. T.O.? While some fans pleaded for him to receive an indulto, the front office showed no mercy.
This year? Get serious. There will be no shortage of goats to roast. Bobby Carpenter, Isaiah Stanback, Pat Watkins, Marcus Spears. Band together, gents. The rippers are putting on their blue bandannas and are ready to run you out of town. Flozell Adams went from goat to stud and now is back on the goat list, at least with some of the more bloodthirsty. Were Doug Free not ahead of him on the goat list, the toreadors would be preparing for his old bones. Tony Romo? Your first pick and the swords will come out. Wade and Jason? Don’t think for a second you won’t hit the streets if the losses come too quickly.
I understand. It’s part of fandom. I’ve chased Roy Williams down those streets more than once myself. I’ve had Pat Watkins measured for a while now. I’m just as guilty as the next guy. All Cowboys fans are, to some degree. All football fans are.
Yet, I’m amazed by the speed with which some guys are tagged. What has Mike Jenkins done to deserve his roasting? He’s a second year player who looked very, very good to my eyes. He’s going to have a very good season, health permitting, yet some people are ready to doom him to permanent second class status behind Orlando Scandrick, sight unseen.
Some players get no patience, even if they’ve produced. Marion Barber was the people’s choice in ‘07. Take any week and you could find numerous posts insisting he should start and that Julius Jones needed to be run down immediately, never mind in the summer. Less than a year later, after a toe injury, some goat runners were already shoving number 24 into the street, ready to trade him for the first available receiver, or to demote him behind Tashard Choice, who no doubt will see his day on the streets the minute a fresher back hits town.
My point? Be deliberate in choosing your goats. Don’t mistake an injury for incompetence. Football hurts, and even the best ones get pummeled. Be sure a guy isn’t playing hurt, instead of losing his edge, before you run him into the ring. Have patience with the kids. Not all of them develop at the same rate. Don’t assume that what you saw from a rookie determines how he’ll play this year, or next year.
Some guys deserve their horns. Some have disappointed and will continue to disappoint. Some of these guys may be a week or just a month from breaking out. Let’s try and do a better job of distinguishing between them.
It’s August 17th. Put those blue scarves back in your pocket, at least until next week.
“Blame it on Cain,
Please don’t blame it on me.
It’s nobody’s fault,
but it just seems to be his turn.”
Trading Black Hats for White Ones — Or Not?
July 24, 2008
Duane Thomas once commented that the Dallas Cowboys have never won anything without controversy. Thomas of course generated his fair share of it, but he has a point. Let’s look at some of the Cowboys’ championship seasons and consider the distractions that accompanied each one:
1971 — 1970 Rookie of the Year Thomas is traded during the preseason, has his trade to New England reversed after a bustup with Pats’ coach John Mazur, returns and then plays the season without speaking to his teammates. Meanwhile, Tom Landry employs a quarterback rotation system, which craters in week seven when he alternates Roger Staubach and Craig Morton on each offensive play in an embarrassing loss to a bad Chicago Bears team.
The offense settles down after Staubach is named the starter and the Cowboys run the table.
1993 — The Cowboys have little time to celebrate their third title before Emmitt Smith and Jerry Jones stage a contract showdown. Smith holds out and Dallas stumbes into the season with two losses. The team settles down and swaggers through the playoffs, though it has to overcome several key injuries, namely Mark Stepnoski’s ACL tear, Smith’s separated shoulder and Troy Aikman’s concussion, which wipes out his memory of the Super Bowl.
Simmering beneath the surface is the rift between Jones and Jimmy Johnson, which erupts almost immediately after they accept their second Lombardi trophy. Jimmy clumsily dodges a question in the locker room about his readiness to pursue a third consecutive title and days later mocks Jones on The Tonight Show. The J.J.s part shortly thereafter.
1995 — Dallas pursues it’s third title of the Jones era with the widely-despised Barry Switzer at the helm. Jones picks a fight with the league over sponsorship deals and is served with a lawsuit during a league meeting. The Cowboys are ripped for “buying a title” after they outbid San Francisco for Deion Sanders’ services. The cries for Switzer’s dismissal peak after his two 4th-and-1 gambles fail in Philadelphia. When Dallas beats the Steelers in the Super Bowl the sighs of relief are as loud as the cheers.
It seems the Cowboys require discord to fuel their title runs. Perhaps that’s why the Terry Glenn tiff feels like home; I’d be far more worried if everything were hunky dory.
I think many Cowboys fans feel the same way. One character trait I’ve noticed in the three plus years of running this site is that the Cowboys nation cannot exist without creating villains on their own team.
Look at the Parcells years. Drew Bledsoe was always the instant scapegoat, even when losses were not directly his fault. More recently, Julius Jones served as a whipping boy for the fans.
Even today, with the Cowboys coming off a 13-3 season, there are several black hats riding in the posse. I give you the Cowboys you love to hate, ‘08 edition:
- Roy Williams
- Terry Glenn
- Marcus Spears
- Bobby Carpenter
and give you these potential baddies:
- Wade Phillips
- Tony Romo
- Anthony Henry
- Adam Jones
- Tank Johnson
a former black hat gone straight:
- Flozell Adams
and these wild cards:
- Greg Ellis
- Terrell Owens
Too much controversy? Too many loose cannons? From my perspective, the blend looks great. The Cowboys thrive on crazy and Jerry has done his best the past two years to raise the instability quotient. Outsiders may deride his gambles on T.O. and the former Pacman Jones but team history suggests he’s right where he needs to be.
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